The days on WGR are numbered for Howard Simon. He announced on Wednesday morning that he will be on the station for the last time on March 3.
Simon has been in Buffalo since 1980 when he came to the city for college. He has been working in sports media in Western New York for more than 33 years.
“I’ve been around some amazing stories over the years like the Bills four straight Super Bowl seasons, a Sabres Stanley Cup Final appearance, NCAA Tournament berths for each of the Big 4 schools, Bandits championships, and a Bisons championship,” he wrote in an essay announcing his plans on WGR’s website.
Howard Simon began reassessing his professional life last year. In August, he tweeted that he would only be on air three days per week going forward. He made a point to be on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays during the football season.
Last month, Simon spoke with BSM’s Peter Schwartz. He told Schwartz that he did not think he could make it through the entire football season if he were to work five days per week.
He also told Schwartz that he wasn’t looking to make half weeks his new normal. At that time, three days was all he could give. When he knew he couldn’t do that anymore, he would be totally done with sports radio. He didn’t see himself reducing his workload even further and still maintaining a presence in the sports media.
“Whenever I decide to be done, I’m done. That’s it. I just want to be a fan again. I don’t want to have to worry about taking notes and having opinions and living on Twitter and what’s going on and booking guests,” he said.
Jeremy White has been Simon’s partner for the last 18 years. Howard Simon had nothing but kind words for White in his announcement.
“Jeremy is super talented, extremely creative, and has a great feel for what topics will be of most interest to our listening audience. Now he did throw a shoe at me during a show one time, but I don’t think he was trying to hit me on purpose. I can’t thank Jeremy enough for what he has done over the years for the morning show. Quite honestly the poor guy has had to carry me the last couple of years.”
Simon isn’t leaving Western New York. He concluded his announcement by saying that he looks forward to celebrating the city’s first major sports championship with his former listeners as a fellow fan.
